The Netherlands is short approximately 400 000 homes, and nearly one million more are required by 2030. Greenfield expansion would consume the remaining open landscapes, including protected areas such as Midden-Delfland. The alternative is to densify the monofunctional industrial estates that line the urban edge, but most existing approaches displace the industry rather than integrate it. This project asks how an adaptive spatial framework, based on Habraken’s Open Building principles, can enable the densification of a logistics site in Berkel en Rodenrijs (around 250 dwellings on the JoyLogistics plot) while integrating living, working and landscape into a system that evolves over time. Following a research-through-design method, the project develops three interlinked design principles, supported by literature on Open Building, the productive city and place-attachment theory, and grounded in four case studies: Kalkbreite, Next21, The City Dune and Superlofts. A catalyst (free shared energy from PV on the 18,000 m² shed roof and aquathermal heat from an adjacent water buffer) attracts pioneers to a low-image industrial edge. An adaptive 8.4 by 8.4 metre support, carrying modular dwellings, façade panels and four lifespan layers, lets residents stay through every life phase via a modular tenure system. Symbiosis between residents and industry workers is built over time through shared infrastructure, a gradient public deck, a productive school, a workshop, and cross-financed governance. The three principles operate as a closed loop in which architectural decisions, the tenure model and the governance structure reinforce one another: free energy attracts pioneers; modules let them stay; staying produces attachment; attachment produces symbiosis; symbiosis produces resilience; protected returns keep stakeholders investing. Each of the four precedents demonstrates one segment of this loop; this project demonstrates its closure. The result is a replicable method for densifying industrial edges without displacing industry, consuming protected landscape, or sacrificing affordability. ... Read more

This graduation project proposes a new form of community living within the rewetting peat landscape of the Vlietlanden, Midden-Delfland — a territory undergoing fundamental ecological transformation under the ZUS, SWECO, & FLUX Landscape Architecture masterplan for 2122 (2022). As conventional agriculture becomes untenable and water levels rise, the project asks : what comes next, and who lives there ?

The project develops a woonlandschap — a living productive landscape — for approximately 55 dwellings and 150 inhabitants, organised around three dimensions of productivity : ecological, material, and social. The landscape is treated not as a backdrop but as the generative foundation of every spatial decision. Water and soil gradients dictate land use, which dictates the position and form of the settlement.

Three new social actors inhabit this landscape : the new farmer as landscape guardian and educator, the seasonal worker as full community member, and the hybrid resident seeking an active relationship with nature. Together they form a mixed community organised around shared productive infrastructure — workshop, community kitchen, educational space, and restaurant — at the heart of a circular ring of dwellings.

The architectural typology combines hexagonal CLT dwelling units with a rectangular greenhouse envelope. The hexagon responds to the organic, non-orthogonal conditions of the rewetting soil, breaks the rigid geometry of the polder grid, and opens six sightlines onto the productive landscape. The greenhouse provides a spatial and environmental threshold between interior and landscape — generating three new biotopes, producing energy through BIPV panels, and filtering water through rooftop helophyte systems. The settlement is energy positive, materially circular, and ecologically generative.
The project demonstrates that architecture in a fragile, transitional landscape don’t need to choose between human comfort and ecological integrity. When the ground leads, both become possible.
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This graduation project investigates how existing industrial structures can be reused as the foundation for a circular housing system that supports liveable residential environments. The research responds to two contemporary challenges: the environmental impact of the construction sector and the growing demand for housing in Dutch cities. ... Read more

Situated in the heart of the changing polder landscape of Midden-Delfland, the project investigates how architecture can respond to two interconnected challenges that will become increasingly relevant in the future: the transformation of the Dutch polder landscape, and the growing impact of dementia within an ageing society. The connection between these two areas is found in the shared themes of loss of control, uncertainty, and an unstable and unpredictable environment.

Dementia is approached not only as a medical condition, but as a spatial challenge affecting orientation, sensory experience, familiarity, mobility, and social interaction. The research emphasised the need for new housing models that address these issues, move beyond traditional institutional care environments, and support residents throughout the progression of the disease.

The project proposes a continuous care system for people with mild, moderate and severe dementia. The design allows to move between different levels of independence and care within one coherent system based on the three stages of dementia. The three residential courtyards are connected by an elevated street accommodating shared facilities stimulating social interaction and wellbeing.

The outcome is a dementia-friendly environment in which care, nature and spatial design merge to promote health, liveability and sustainability. The project seeks to find a balance as people and their environment change; between autonomy and care, between nature and well-being, between memory and landscape.
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This research asks how the multi-tenant office building, a common but overlooked typology in Dutch business parks, can generate urban vitality within a mixed-use environment by drawing on its own structural and spatial qualities. Through literature review, case study analysis and design research grounded in Brand's shearing layers, Brooker and Stone's reuse strategies, and Gehl's and Sennett's accounts of vitality, the study identifies four typological constants: an overdimensioned structure, a generic floor plan, peripheral circulation and collective infrastructure. Applied to an office building in Rotterdam's Noord-West business park, the design reorganises the existing office blocks for housing and adds a cross-laminated timber residential volume above the concrete hall, which becomes a mixed public space linked to the street through a redesigned plinth and passage. The result demonstrates that working with, rather than replacing, the building's own logic produces vitality and offers principles transferable to a wider class of underused buildings. ... Read more

This graduation project addresses two major challenges in the Netherlands: the housing crisis and climate change. It argues that future housing should not only provide sustainable and climate-adaptive homes, but also create healthy living environments that improve physical and mental well-being.

The project focuses on how architecture can encourage outdoor living and strengthen the connection between people and nature. Special attention is given to children and families, as growing up in a healthy environment with access to outdoor spaces is seen as essential for long-term health and development.

Located in Midden-Delfland, near Maasland, the design explores a new housing model integrated into the polder landscape. The proposal introduces smaller, flexible homes with strong indoor-outdoor connections and transitional buffer zones that adapt to seasonal changes. Residents are encouraged to spend more time outside, making nature an active part of daily life.

The broader masterplan organizes the landscape into housing zones, nature buffer zones, and protected nature zones to minimize ecological impact. The project aims to create a new way of living in which housing, nature, and well-being are closely connected, supporting both human health and ecological resilience.
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This thesis explores the possibility of designing dwellings with the current inhabitants, the animals, in mind first. Over the past 50 years, wildlife has decreased by 73%, while the human population continues to grow and take more and more of the land, further destroying the nature that we depend on. This thesis aims to raise awareness of the design process and start integrating other animals into it as soon as possible, with the aim of reducing the impact of building in nature. The Midden-Delfland area has been chosen as a case study to explore this issue, with the focus being on the ‘Delfland Small Five’ to gather information on designing for them.

The main question is: How can architectural design principles be created to promote biodiversity in Midden-Delfland while looking at the Small five, while recognizing that different species respond differently to different densities?

To achieve this, literature studies have been conducted to gain insight into the lives of the Delfland Small Five, while case studies have been analysed to gather information on similar buildings. The worlds of humans and animals can complement each other through dwellings designed to blend into the landscape, preventing visual disturbance for some species and enriching or limiting the vegetation required by others. This, combined with careful maintenance, can ensure that habitats are sustained. It must be kept in mind that these principles have not yet been tested in real life, and that they should be tested in a real environment to ensure the results are feasible.
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This graduation project investigates how architecture can function in a place where permanent construction is not self-evident. The starting point for this research lies in Midden-Delfland, where the transition between city and landscape is under pressure from housing demand, infrastructure, climate adaptation and changing patterns of land use. Within the larger urban development plan, Region 2, the Definitieve OpslagPlaats NoordOost-Abtspolder (DOP NOAB), forms a critical point of tension. The presence of contaminated ground, technical restrictions and a maintenance-dependent cover system make conventional forms of construction problematic.

The project, titled Apposition, starts from the question of how an adaptive architectural system can be designed for contaminated ground. Rather than hiding the uncertainty of the site or attempting to resolve it completely, this uncertainty is used as the starting point for the design. Apposition describes an architectural attitude in which different conditions are organised alongside one another: contaminated ground and dwelling, temporality and residential quality, individual homes and collective structures, landscape and building.









The design develops a modular and reversible housing system that can be placed, adapted, dismantled and reused. Compact dwellings are supported by collective spaces, shared outdoor areas and a landscape strategy that softens the hard transition between the city and Midden-Delfland. At the level of material and detail, the project investigates how demountable connections, biobased materials and reused components can contribute to an architecture that touches the ground lightly.

The project shows that contaminated ground does not only have to be understood as a limitation, but can also become the starting point for another form of architecture: adaptive, collective, reversible and conscious of time. In doing so, Apposition proposes a way of building that can become meaningful without being fully dependent on permanence.
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This thesis examines the relationship between housing, social cohesion, and spatial organisation in contemporary urban environments. Over the past fifty years, Western society has experienced a decline in social cohesion and an increase in individualism, resulting in more isolated living patterns and fewer opportunities for spontaneous social interaction. The digitalisation of daily life and the rise of remote lifestyles have further reinforced this shift, raising questions about inclusivity and the spatial conditions that support or discourage social life.

At the same time, the Netherlands faces an escalating housing crisis characterised by declining affordability and accessibility, inefficient use of residential space, and limited flexibility within the housing market. Despite growing demand, housing models remain relatively rigid, making it difficult to introduce alternative typologies that combine affordability with high spatial quality.

In parallel, industrial areas have become increasingly monofunctional, separating living, working, and production into isolated spatial zones. Once integrated, these functions are now often divided across inaccessible, car-oriented landscapes with low spatial quality, despite occupying significant amounts of urban land.

This research explores how architecture and urban design can respond to these interconnected challenges by rethinking housing models and spatial organisation. It investigates opportunities for more inclusive, affordable, and socially connected living environments through spatial strategies that encourage interaction, improve space efficiency, and reintegrate diverse urban functions.

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The Netherlands faces a significant housing shortage alongside a steady rise in single-person households, a combination that increases the risk of social isolation in daily life. This graduation project investigates how the design of shared transition zones in a mixed-use residential building can support informal social inclusion without relying on programmed activities or community management. Drawing on the theoretical work of Jan Gehl, William H. Whyte, and Richard Sennett, three spatial conditions are identified as central to everyday encounter: intimacy, visibility, and programmatic activation. These conditions are translated into three architectural principles, light, gradient, and threshold, that shape the design of a mixed-use apartment building located in the Spaanse Polder in Rotterdam. The building's stepped form ensures direct sunlight reaches a central courtyard, the spatial organisation creates a gradual transition from public to private rather than a hard boundary, and semi-private threshold zones at each dwelling entrance allow residents to be present in shared space without being exposed. Through case study analysis, research by design, and physical modelling, the project demonstrates that social inclusion in housing is less a matter of organised programming than of careful spatial design, where the gallery, courtyard, and threshold are treated as primary architectural spaces rather than residual circulation. The project concludes that meaningful collective life depends on the coexistence of encounter and retreat, and that the most socially valuable spaces in a building are often the ordinary ones that ask nothing of the people who pass through them. ... Read more

This graduation report investigates how transitional housing for individuals and families exiting crisis shelters can be architecturally and spatially integrated within the transformation of the Spaanse Polder in Rotterdam. The research addresses the gap between emergency accommodation and permanent housing, focusing on the one- to two-year transitional phase in which residents need safety, stability, autonomy, and gradual social reintegration.

Rather than approaching transitional housing as an isolated care facility, the project proposes a mixed collective housing model embedded within an emerging urban district. The design combines a balanced resident composition of one-third students, one-third residents aged 55+, and one-third people receiving a transitional housing place. Each residential floor is organised as one large shared apartment with approximately ten furnished private bedrooms. Residents share bathrooms, circulation spaces, outdoor areas, kitchens, and collective living rooms.

At the architectural scale, the project creates a gradient from private rooms to collective spaces and public neighbourhood functions. At the urban scale, a public library activates the two-story plinth and connects the building to its surroundings. In this way, the project positions transitional housing as part of ordinary urban life: safe, affordable, socially inclusive, and non-institutional.
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This graduation project investigates how concrete can function as a future-proof structural framework for adaptable live-work environments. Developed for the transformation of the Spaanse Polder in Rotterdam, the project responds to contemporary challenges of housing shortages, the displacement of productive activities, and the need for more sustainable building strategies.

The proposal introduces an adaptable support-infill framework that combines a durable concrete structure with replaceable timber infill elements. Rather than evaluating sustainability solely through short-term carbon reduction, the project explores how longevity, adaptability, and reuse can contribute to long-term environmental performance. By integrating low-carbon concrete innovations and designing for multiple programmatic lifecycles, the framework is intended to remain relevant and adaptable over a lifespan of up to 200 years.

The building accommodates creative makers through affordable live-work typologies that support both domestic life and small-scale production. At the urban scale, the framework acts as a repeatable strategy that reconnects housing and making, contributing to a productive urban network within the evolving district. Through the integration of social inclusion, adaptability, and architectural quality, the project demonstrates how a permanent structural framework can support changing spatial, social, and economic needs over time. ... Read more

The Netherlands is currently facing a structural housing crisis that is often reduced to a purely quantitative challenge, overlooking complex spatial and social realities. At the same time, a widening socioeconomic gap has left a doubly disadvantaged group, consisting of low-income households, single elderly people, individuals with mild physical disabilities, and statusholders, struggling to secure affordable housing while lacking a robust social infrastructure to serve as a safety net.

This graduation project, “Blurring Boundaries: Designing for a social infrastructure,” seeks to address these interconnected qualitative and quantitative challenges through integrated architectural and urban design. Utilizing a “Research by Design” methodology, the project proposes a residential complex located in the Spaanse Polder, Rotterdam, acting as a transition zone between the city’s urban fabric and the productive landscape.

The core of the design is rooted in the creation of a social infrastructure that facilitates Asset-Based Community Development and builds both Bonding- and Bridging Social Capital among diverse residents. Architecturally, this is achieved through a carefully articulated hierarchy of spaces, ranging from private dwellings to shared residential groups and fully public areas. They are designed to systematically lower the threshold for casual social interaction. The project combines spatial, social, and organisational strategies to support long-term inclusion and adaptability. The building limits its overall scale to 47 dwellings to prevent anonymity and carefully balances supportive and non-supportive residents to ensure a functional community. Dwellings are clustered into residential groups of four to five units that share communal living rooms, kitchens, and outdoor spaces to foster daily mutual reliance.

To ensure long-term adaptability and ecological responsibility, the building employs a flexible,
demountable timber skeleton structure utilizing BauBuche laminated beams. This structural grid allows for adaptable floor plans of 30, 45, and 60 square meters to suit diverse and evolving household compositions. Finally, financial feasibility and sustained affordability are secured through a management cooperative model, where middle-income households cross-subsidize lower-income units. Ultimately, this research demonstrates that integrating cooperative organizational models, flexible sustainable construction, and deliberate social infrastructure can successfully empower disadvantaged groups and foster resilient, socially inclusive living environments. ... Read more

This graduation project explores how mono functional industrial areas at the urban polder edge can contribute to solving the housing crisis while preserving their economic function. Situated within the ZUS masterplan for Rodenrijs Business Park, the project proposes a housing concept in which residential units are built above an active logistics layer. Rather than replacing existing industrial activities, the design integrates living and working functions through a layered spatial approach.

The project focuses on a site located between two existing warehouses and investigates how housing, logistics, ecology, and affordability can coexist within a single development. By elevating the residential program above the logistics infrastructure, valuable land is used more efficiently while the surrounding open landscape, including Midden-Delfland, is protected from further urban expansion.

Through architectural design, phased growth strategies, and climate-responsive interventions, the project demonstrates how industrial estates can evolve into inclusive and sustainable mixed use environments. The findings contribute to a replicable model for transforming monofunctional urbanpolder edge locations across the Netherlands. ... Read more

This thesis addresses the hidden crisis of food insecurity in the Netherlands, where industrial agriculture has led to nitrogen pollution, biodiversity loss, and fragile ecosystems. Focusing on Midden-Delfland, the project proposes “Home to Fork,” a sitopic community that integrates food production, preparation, and consumption into residential design. By designing housing for 100 households in the Duifpolder, the project explores strategies that enable residents to cultivate, process, and share food at multiple scales and skill levels. Drawing from nutritional anthropology, regenerative food systems, and sustainable development, the research examines how architecture can empower communities to reduce reliance on industrial supply chains and adopt regenerative, localized practices. The project reframes food not only as sustenance but as a driver of community cohesion, environmental stewardship, and spatial innovation, positioning architecture as a catalyst for systemic change toward resilient and autonomous ways of living. ... Read more

Waterscapes of Resilience explores how innovative housing design in wetland regions can address the dual imperatives of environmental sustainability and community resilience in the context of increasing flood risks. Grounded in the Dutch Delta—specifically Midden-Delfland—this thesis responds to the ecological vulnerabilities and socio-spatial disconnections caused by rigid flood infrastructure and urbanization. It critiques prevailing paradigms that treat nature as a threat to control and instead proposes a framework rooted in re-territorialization—a spatial, ecological, and cultural realignment between human settlements and dynamic water systems.

The research employs a multi-method approach combining literature review, international case study analysis, ethnographic interviews, site mapping, and iterative design modeling. It synthesizes concepts of de-synchronization, community-based design, and adaptive architecture to develop spatial strategies that reimagine housing not as static shelter, but as an evolving interface between water, ecology, and society.

The resulting design proposal envisions a modular, resilient housing community integrated with green-blue infrastructure. Key technological ideas include floodable wall systems with removable cladding, breathable insulation, and a hybrid timber-concrete foundation system tailored for wetland conditions. Communal spaces—such as water plazas, walkable levees, and shared terraces—support social interaction and collective flood response.

By embedding climate adaptation into the DNA of housing and community design, the project advances a regenerative architectural approach that not only withstands flood events but thrives through ecological cohabitation. This thesis contributes a resilient, scalable, and inclusive housing model for deltaic regions facing climate uncertainty, while reinforcing the role of architecture as a critical mediator between human and natural systems. ... Read more

The transition to a fully circular housing sector is urgent, given the greenhouse gas emissions and waste generated by the building sector, as well as the high energy demand that burdens both residents and the natural environment. This thesis advocates for a social approach to the Circular Built Environment, rather than one-size-fits-all technical solutions. It explores circular living environments and initiatives in the Netherlands to define the roles of architects and planners in the circular housing transition. To this end, ethnographic fieldwork has been conducted on circular initiatives in the Netherlands, such as ecovillages and the energy collective 015Duurzaam in Delft. The methods employed include in-practice studies of everyday human activity, participant observation, sketching, painting, in-depth interviews, volunteer work, and semi-structured interviews with researchers. The results indicate that both the circular housing transition and the energy transition depend on local community efforts, which are often unpaid and underrepresented in the current debate on the Circular Built Environment by policymakers and academia alike. This thesis advocates for a greater recognition of community efforts and identifies a role for architects and designers to facilitate this. Consequently, the thesis outlines six design principles for architects to foster resilient communities. Finally, it concludes with a design proposal for a circular catalyst in the form of a building that integrates a workshop and residential component. Situated in Tanthof, Delft, this proposal illustrates how circular development can respond to and build upon the specific conditions of an existing urban context. ... Read more

The Netherlands is facing a double crisis: a shortage of affordable housing and rising levels of loneliness. Traditional housing at the moment does not seem to help mitigate loneliness and isolation. Cohousing — an approach that combines private living with the sharing of space, amenities and ideologies — offers a potential solution. The graduation project explores if and in what ways cohousing could effectively address both housing affordability and social isolation. Subsequently, findings from the research are applied to a design for a housing complex in the neighbourhood of Tanthof, Delft. ... Read more

This research investigates how contemporary design can integrate modernization and efficiency while preserving the historical value, cultural identity, and unique essence of traditional Dutch polder landscapes and their dwellings. Grounded in a qualitative methodology, the study employs a multifaceted research strategy including exploratory, descriptive, correlational, comparative, historical, and case study method. These approaches facilitated a layered understanding of spatial, architectural, and cultural dynamics in the polder landscape, with Midden-Delfland serving as the principal case study.

The study explores how design principles derived from historical research and grounded theory can guide the creation of architecture that respects tradition while meeting modern needs. Through comparative analysis and narrative interpretation, vernacular forms and typologies were examined and reimagined to develop a unified set of contemporary design principles.

The findings culminate in a three-part design framework: [1] urban planning strategies that align future-oriented development with polder logic and environmental systems; [2] rchitectural massing techniques that reinterpret vernacular typologies using durable, symbolic forms; and [3] detailing approaches that combine traditional craftsmanship with digital innovation to enhance experiential and cultural value. This triadic approach offers a resilient and context-sensitive blueprint for modern architecture in heritage landscapes.

Ultimately, the research proposes that the preservation of the Dutch polder’s architectural character lies not in replication but in reinterpretation—through craftsmanship that bridges past and future, tradition and innovation. This vision champions an architecture that is both deeply rooted and forwardthinking, ensuring the continued evolution and recognizability of the polder landscape. ... Read more